Wednesday

What a lovely, sunny day it was yesterday.  I know we need the rain and I am glad when it falls but it was so cheering to see the sun shining and hear the birds chirping.  It does my heart good.

It was another inconsequential day filled with pleasant little happenings to raise the spirits and cheer the soul.  I didn't go out, I didn't see anyone, but I did a fair amount of online communication and it was all very satisfying, one way and another.

I got the first setting of seeds planted, finally.  Just one row of each.  Next weekend (not the one coming up, the following one) I will plant another strip of each and a fortnight after that I will plant the last lot.  And then we will see!  I know they will germinate at different rates and the radishes, for example, will be ready long before the others, but that's OK, no problems.  There was another quite heavy frost last night and I'm thinking I really ought to cover my apple tree overnight.  I must cut up a big bin liner and see what I can do, before the frost damages the emerging leaves and blossom (does frost damage leaves?).

I realised that I had some very ripe bananas so I dug out a 'cheap as chips banana loaf' recipe and set to.  It's so jolly easy:  you mash bananas, beat them with eggs and sugar, add flour and bake.  I had a brainstorm and added some coffee granules to the banana egg mix, leaving it for a few minutes so the coffee liquidated (?) before folding in the flour and you know what, it was jolly nice.  It has a fairly pudding-y texture but is delicious spread with butter.  Sadly, I won't be eating it like that - one of its helpful features is that it's fat free and I intend to keep it that way, so I had a bit yesterday and the rest is going to be frozen in single slices to have for school lunches and also for desserts with fruit and yogurt on top.

That mandarin cheesecake terrine thingy, the recipe for which I got from L last week and which is a Rosemary Conley recipe, is still going strong and I'm going to see how well it freezes.  I found another recipe on the same site (her 'TV' site, which has videos of her chef making the recipes - jolly helpful it is too) for a vanilla banana fool which also looks rather nice and which freezes well, he said, so, as I still have bananas to use up, I will make this today.  Very few recipes are just for one and as I usually prepare single meals it can be a bit of a pain.  I'm always on the look out for freezable recipes.  Given how many people cater just for themselves nowadays, you'd think that someone would bring out a recipe book along the lines of 'One is Fun', that very old Delia series of so very long ago, either for single portion dishes or for dishes that can be frozen in single portions.  Preferably both!

Sock update:  I've finished the heel and am on the last lap on sock no. 1.